Allu Arjun case: Hyderabad police issue show cause notice to Sandhya 70MM theatre, find 11 lapse

Hyderabad: The Hyderabad police had issued show cause notice to Sandhya 70MM theatre asking why its license should not be cancelled for the alleged lapses that had led to the death of a 35 year old woman on December 4 night during the screening of Pushpa 2: The Rule movie. 

On Friday, Chikkadapally police had arrested actor Allu Arjun in connection with this incident. He was later released on interim bail granted by the high court.

While the two page show cause notice was issued to Sandhya Theatre management a few days ago, it came to light on Tuesday. In the notice police had listed out around 11 lapses that led to the stampede in which the woman died and her son suffered severe injuries and is now undergoing treatment at a hospital.

"The infrastructure of the theatre was not satisfactory and the lower balcony entry grill gate was not manned property to withstand the public flow and got damaged due to overcrowding. The management of the theatre failed to inform the local police about the arrival of the actor Allu Arjun to the theatre. They also did not plan any entry, exit and seating plan for the film's lead actors despite knowing that they will attract huge public attention," the notice said.

"The management also allowed the movie makers to install the truss and lighting at the theatre premises which caused a large gathering of the public. The management at the time of arrival of the actor Allu Arjun allowed his private security also to enter inside the theatre along with him, which caused inconvenience to the public and these security personnel blocked the free passage between the seats which was meant for movement of public. There was no proper system to check the tickets which allowed unauthorized entry and overcrowding inside the theatre which created suffocation inside the theatre,” the notice from Hyderabad police added.

Police also said that the management of the theatre has not made any additional provisions regarding security to manage the crowd and there was no separate entry or exit for the actor's team though the theatre management has prior information about their arrival.

On December 4 at about 9.30 pm actor Allu Arjun along with his family and lead actress of the movie came to Sandhya 70MM Theatre with his personal security and all the people gathered there tried to enter the theatre with them.

The personal security team of the actor started pushing the public which further aggravated the situation as there was already a huge gathering at the theatre. Taking advantage of this situation, large number of people along with the actor and his security team entered inside the lower balcony area of the theatre.

"There was no personnel to check whether the people entering inside the theatre have valid tickets or not. In this Mogudampalli Revathi, wife of Bhaskar,, a resident of Shalivahana Nagar, Dilsukhnagar and her son Sri Tej,9 , felt suffocated due to large public influx and immediately the police personnel who were on duty pulled them out of the public from the lower balcony and one SI along with a police constable performed CPR to both of them and immediately shifted them to the nearby Durgabai Deshmukh Hospital. The Doctor of the said Hospital has informed that Mogudampalli Revathi was brought dead and her son Sri Tej was advised to be shifted to another hospital for better treatment. Immediately the boy was shifted to KIM's Hospital, Secunderabad," the notice said.